Q&A for How to Back Up a Mac

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What if I don't want to use iCloud or Time Machine?

Chiara Corsaro
Phone & Computer Repair Technician
Chiara Corsaro is the General Manager and Apple Certified Mac & iOS Technician for macVolks, Inc., an Apple Authorized Service Provider located in the San Francisco Bay Area. macVolks, Inc. was founded in 1990, is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A+ rating, and is part of the Apple Consultants Network (ACN).

Chiara Corsaro

Phone & Computer Repair Technician

Expert Answer

You can always go old school and copy files to a USB drive, CD, or DVD. It's definitely unnecessary, though; Time Machine and iCloud are pretty efficient when it comes to backing up Mac files.

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Question

How long does it take for Time Machine to back everything up?

Chiara Corsaro
Phone & Computer Repair Technician
Chiara Corsaro is the General Manager and Apple Certified Mac & iOS Technician for macVolks, Inc., an Apple Authorized Service Provider located in the San Francisco Bay Area. macVolks, Inc. was founded in 1990, is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A+ rating, and is part of the Apple Consultants Network (ACN).

Chiara Corsaro

Phone & Computer Repair Technician

Expert Answer

It usually takes about 1 hour. It depends on how you have things set up and what kind of drive you're using.

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Question

Can I leave the Time Machine drive plugged in?

Chiara Corsaro
Phone & Computer Repair Technician
Chiara Corsaro is the General Manager and Apple Certified Mac & iOS Technician for macVolks, Inc., an Apple Authorized Service Provider located in the San Francisco Bay Area. macVolks, Inc. was founded in 1990, is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A+ rating, and is part of the Apple Consultants Network (ACN).

Chiara Corsaro

Phone & Computer Repair Technician

Expert Answer

It's not intrinsically problematic, but I wouldn't recommend it. Those drives run on the computer's internal power supply, and they aren't designed to be plugged into a computer for an extended period of time.

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Will Time Machine back up my Mac to iCloud?

Community Answer

No. Time Machine is for making a local backup of your computer to an external hard drive, but will not send this backup anywhere on the internet.

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Question

Can I keep the data locally as well as on the iCloud?

Community Answer

Yes, you can keep all of your data on your device. It will just be on iCloud as well.

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Question

Is my Facebook message history included in my backup?

Community Answer

No, it is not. However, your Facebook message history should be accessible any time you log into Facebook from any device.

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Question

What should I do before I remove a disk?

Community Answer

You should right-click on the icon and click eject. Once you see it disappear, you can remove the disk.

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Question

How do I stop iCloud backups?

Ted Katsorchis

Community Answer

Open System Preferences. Then open iCloud. Remove check mark from the apps you want to stop backing up to iCloud. If you are backing up anything other than Apple apps, click on "Options" next to iCloud (you still need to follow the above steps). The following window will show you which non-Apple apps are storing docs for files, uncheck them and they will no longer store on iCloud.

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Question

Does backing up my Mac book Pro to iCloud also include files like .doc, ,xls, .pdf etc?

Community Answer

Yes.

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Question

Can I restore the full contents of my computer from iCloud?

Community Answer

If you've backed up all of your computer's contents to iCloud, then yes.

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Question

After checking all the boxes, what do I click to actually start the backup to iCloud?

Community Answer

It will start backing up automatically. You will see the iCloud storage filling up as it does.

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Question

I would like to access my photos from iCloud, but apparently (not positive) it will take 300 hrs or so. How can I have more immediate access to my photos?

Community Answer

iCloud allows immediate access -- it just takes time to download the photos from iCloud.

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Question

How do I back up to cloud automatically?

Community Answer

Just connect to iTunes via your computer and a USB charger wire.

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Question

Do I have to reinstall all my programs if I do a system restore?

Community Answer

No. That is the beauty of Apple's backups. I don't know macOS backup as well as iOS backup, so this might be the same for both. Backing up to iCloud for iOS (iPhone, iPad...) takes you 85-95% of the way to a full, like it never happened backup. Backing up your iOS device to iTunes, on Windows or Mac, gets you 100% to a complete backup. The difference being if you enable encryption and password-protect the backup, it will also save your keychains and auto-login info for websites. I expect macOS to work similarly with iCloud and Time Machine.

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Question

My external hard drive is unencrypted; are my Mac files vulnerable?

Community Answer

Yes, if your external hard drive is unencrypted, your files are vulnerable. Fortunately, it is a physical object, so as long as no one else gets possession of it, you're fine.

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Does iCloud Backup include all of the applications?

Community Answer

No, it does not. You have to reinstall all of that. Be sure to back up the installation files for all your downloaded applications.

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Question

Can I back up my Mac to an external hard drive?

Community Answer

Yes, the Time Machine program facilitates that. It should explain how to do so within the program itself but you can also follow the steps above.

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Question

What would happen if I connect to a disk which already has backup data from an earlier date?

Community Answer

Time Machine makes a new copy of your device with the current date. It does not affect previous backups.

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Question

Can I back up the whole system including my applications iCloud when backing up a Mac?

Community Answer

No. iCloud does not support backing up your applications. It is only for backing up files.

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